1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to vehicle design and, more specifically, to a method of integrating product information management with the design of a vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Vehicle design, and in particular automotive vehicle design, is a complex process relying on the talents of individuals with specific skills. Vehicle design involves several overlapping phases, including design initiation, development, assessment and verification. Each of these phases relies on information in order to make a decision regarding the design. The information pertinent to the design of a vehicle may be available in various forms, such as individual knowledge based on previous experience. Other forms include newly generated data, or existing data stored within a computer database. For a system as complex as a vehicle, information may be stored in multiple computer databases. Frequently, the various computer databases are unrelated or maintained in incompatible formats. Access to and utilization of each of the databases by a user may require specialized knowledge or training, or multiple log-ins to access each database. Furthermore, a user may be unaware of the various databases and of the type of information available therein, to assist in the decision making process.
Information management provides for the systematic organization and delivery of information from various sources in a useful manner, to assist in decision making. In this example, information management is used in the design of a product, namely a vehicle. In the past, information delivery included the modification of the available information to suit the needs of the user, or to provide expert help to provide the information to the user in a useful manner. Information management has also focused on developing common naming conventions, processes and architectures to facilitate a systematic organization of information and cross-organization information transfer. Advantageously, access to the right information at the right time in the right format and with the right content can improve the quality and efficiency of a process, such as the vehicle design process. Thus, there is a need in the art for a method of integrating a product information management system with a vehicle design process to provide the user with centralized access to information in a predetermined manner to assist in informed decision-making.